Prof. Michelle Ying Ling HUANG

Associate Professor and Head of Department

Biography

Prof. Huang teaches art history and museum studies at the Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University. She previously taught at the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Baptist University, and undertook internships at the British Museum and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. She has also been a visiting scholar at the University of the Arts London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the University of Oxford.

Prof. Huang gained academic qualifications in business administration, literature and art history, and developed a strong interest in investigating cross-cultural issues in art and museums from an interdisciplinary, comparative and global perspective. She obtained her PhD in Art History from the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom, and has undertaken extensive research into the reception of Chinese painting in Britain c.1880-1980, with special focus on important collections, collectors, curators, scholars and artists associated with the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. Her research findings were presented in a considerable number of international conferences, guest lectures, public talks and academic publications. Michelle has edited two books and published several articles in edited books and journals with world-leading or internationally recognised publishers, such as the Journal of the History of Collections, The Burlington Magazine, and Arts of Asia.

With the support of funding from the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong, Prof. Huang has recently been conducting research on “The Collection and Exhibition History of Modern Chinese Painting in Britain, 1930-80” and “Sino-British Curatorial Exchange of Chinese Painting: Laurence Binyon, George Eumorfopoulos and their Chinese Friends”. She currently works on a book manuscript, entitled The Reception of Early Chinese Paintings in Britain: Collecting, Display and Interpretation, which will be published by Manchester University Press.

Areas of Interest

Cross-cultural exchange on art and curating, history of collecting and display of Chinese painting, art of the Chinese diaspora, art and globalisation, Asian influence on the arts and crafts of Europe and America

Academic & Professional Qualifications

Ph.D. in Art History, University of St Andrews

M.Litt. in Art History, University of St Andrews

M.A. in Humanities, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

B.B.A. in Marketing, with a minor in Humanities, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Huang, Michelle Ying-Ling. 2018. “Introducing the Art of Modern China: Trends in Exhibiting Modern Chinese Painting in Britain, c.1930-80”, Journal of the History of Collections (23 August): https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhy017.

Huang, Michelle Ying-Ling. 2013. “The Acquisition of the Wegener Collection of Chinese Paintings by the British Museum”, The Burlington Magazine 155.1324 (July): 463-470.

Huang, Michelle Ying-Ling. 2010. “British Interest in Chinese Painting, 1881-1910: The Anderson and Wegener Collections of Chinese Painting in the British Museum”, Journal of the History of Collections 22. 2 (November): 279-287.

Huang, Michelle Ying-Ling. 2011. “Introduction” and “The Influence of Japanese Expertise on the British Reception of Chinese Painting”. In Beyond Boundaries: East & West Cross-Cultural Encounters, edited by Michelle Huang, 1-14, 88-111. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Exhibition Catalogues

Huang, Michelle Ying-Ling. 2018. “Gifts of Twentieth-century Chinese Painters and Their Relationship with the University of Hong Kong”. In Tradition to Contemporary: Ink Painting and Artistic Development in 20th-century China, exh. cat., 25-34. Hong Kong: University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU.

Conference Participation

Organiser of the Global goes Local: Visualizing Regional Cultures in the Arts of Greater China International Conference at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. (27-29/6/2013),

Session Convenor of “Rhythm in Art and Life” in the Association of Art Historians (AAH) 2013 Annual Conference at the University of Reading. (11-13/4/2013)

Session Convenor of “China and the West: The Reception of Chinese Art across Cultures from the 16th to the 20th Century” in the AAH 2010 Annual Conference at the University of Glasgow. (15-17/4/2010)

Organiser of the East & West: Cross-Cultural Encounters International Conference at the School of Art History, University of St Andrews. (11-12/9/2009)

Recent Conference Papers

“Connoisseurship and Provenance Issues in the Study of Early Chinese Painting in Britain”, paper at the 106th College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the United States. (21-24 February 2018)

“Re-discovering the Arts of China through Native Sources: Laurence Binyon, George Eumorfopoulos and Their Taste in Chinese Painting”, paper at the 2nd European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology (EAAA) Conference at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. (24-27/8/2017)

“Establishing Reputation: Exhibitions of Prominent Chinese Painters in Britain, 1933-1980”, paper at the Chinese Painting Since 1900: Scholarship, Exhibitions and Collections International Conference, organised by the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, at the China Centre, University of Oxford, the United Kingdom. (28-29/10/2016)

“Expressing an Alternative Voice: The Role of Chinese Women Painters in Mid-Twentieth Century Britain”, paper at the 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS), jointly organised by the St. Petersburg University, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts RAS and the State Hermitage Museum, Russia. (23-28/8/2016)

“Collecting and Exhibiting the Art of Chinese Women Painters in Twentieth-Century Britain”, paper at Museums, Art and Cultural Diplomacy Conference, jointly organised by the University of Canterbury and the University of Waikato at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. (28-29/4/2016)

“Collecting the New: Institutional Collections of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Paintings in Britain”, paper at The Far East: Collectors and Collections Today International Conference, jointly organised by the University of Lyon and National University of Taiwan at the Musée des Confluences of Lyon, France. (23-25/3/2016)

“Hong Kong Artists’ Participation in Exhibitions of Modern Chinese Painting in 1960-70s Britain”, paper at the Ninth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS9) at the Adelaide Convention Center, Australia. (5-9/7/2015)

“Curatorial Service-Learning: Collaboration between Lingnan University and the Hong Kong Maritime Museum”, paper at the 5th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning, Love Journey: Community Engagement through Service-Learning, at Fu Jen Catholic University Service-Learning Center, Taiwan. (27-29/5/2015)

External Research Grants

Early Career Scheme (ECS) project on “Sino-British Curatorial Exchange of Chinese Painting: Laurence Binyon, George Eumorfopoulos and their Chinese Friends”, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (2015)

General Research Fund (GRF) project on “The Collecting and Exhibition History of Modern Chinese Painting in Britain, 1930-1980”, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (2012)

Curatorial Experience

Member of the Publishing Committee, The Art of Szto Wai Exhibition: The Spirit of Red and Grey at the Hong Kong Central Library, 16-20 January 2019 (9/2017-8/2018)

Intern, Collection of Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy, Department of Asia, The British Museum (Summers 2007 and 2008)

Invited Talks

“The Reputation of Hong Kong Painters in the British Art Scene”, public lecture at the University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong (10/11/2018)

“Exploring the British Taste in Chinese Painting: Notable Collectors and Museum Collections in Britain”, public talk at Ink Asia 2017, Hong Kong (16/12/2017)

“Tradition and Liberation: Expression of Thoughts and Feelings in the Ink Paintings of Modern Chinese Women Artists”, public talk with a viewing of collections at Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford (30/11/2017)

“Prominent Chinese Women Painters in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain”, seminar at the Department of History of Art, University of Oxford (expected 23/11/2017)

“Major Collections of Early and Modern Chinese Painting in the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum”, guest lecture for postgraduate students at the Division of Humanities, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2/5/2017)

“Collecting Contemporary Chinese Art in Britain”, guest lecture for the executive programme on “Collecting Contemporary Art” at HKU SPACE, in collaboration with Art Basel and Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London (20/2/2016)

“Chinoiserie in European and Asian Design”, guest lecture for M.A. in Chinese Traditions and 21st Century at the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (16/1/2016 and 24/9/2016)

“Collecting and Provenance Research: The Story of Lui Shou Kwan’s Abstract Painting in Britain”, lecture for the VIP programme of the 2015 Asia Hotel Art Fair (AHAF) Hong Kong (14/3/2015)

“Managing Collections through the Centuries: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy in the British Museum”, guest lecture for the MA in Chinese Studies programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (9/3/2015)

“Institutional Collecting: Contemporary Chinese and Korean Art in the West”, guest lecture delivered together with Paul Yip for the executive programme Collecting Contemporary Art at HKU SPACE, in collaboration with Art Basel and Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London (24/1/2015)